Talking dolls have long been desirable products for toy manufacturers since they are not only attractive but provide a dialogue for entertaining children. Such dolls are often equipped with sound reproducing devices including a small record and needle assembly powered by a battery or spring. See Beebe, U.S. Pat. No. 3,287,020, Davis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,282,676, and Licitis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,210, which are hereby incorporated by reference. While prerecorded messages on tiny records provide reliable artificial speech, there is no personalization of the voice or recorded message.
Other manufacturers have incorporated miniature tape recorders for permitting a voice interaction between the child and the toy whereby a child can speak to the toy and thereafter play back a recorded message. Such mechanisms, like the tiny record players before them, employ battery or spring-activated driving means. See Convertine et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,905 and Wigal, U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,490, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
While these earlier toy designs have been implemented in certain commercial dolls, there remains a need for a doll which is more life-like. Accordingly, there is a need for a doll having a recorded message means which is adapted for receiving a personal message from a parent or a loved one and which optionally includes means for caressing the child as this message is played back. Such a product would help to alleviate some of the loneliness experienced by child left in day-care facilities or other temporary situations away from loved ones.